Hong Kong this year becomes the venue of a new trade fair for sporting
goods, health equipment and recreation products.
Sports & Recreation '96, from 17 to 20 July, is being held at the same
time as Hong Kong Fashion Week - Spring/Summer, enabling buyers from the Asia
Pacific region and further afield to benefit from two trade fairs at the same
time and at the same location, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Sports & Recreation '96 is being jointly organised by the Hong Kong
Trade Development Council and Miller Freeman, part of the United News and Media
group.
The new fair comes at a time of surging growth in Hong Kong exports of
sporting goods. Total exports, which include transshipments from other
countries, were up 17 per cent in 1994 and up another 17 per cent in the 11
months between January and November last year.
Almost 90 per cent of these were manufactured in China where Hong Kong
companies have low-cost production bases.
Other important manufacturing bases for sporting goods and recreation
products in the region include South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.
Manufacturers and traders from these countries are expected to be among the 200
exhibitors that the first-time fair is targeted to attract.
Mr Francis Wong, exhibitions manager at HKTDC, said: "As well as
traditional markets in the US and Europe, we see Asia generally as having huge
potential growth. You don't have to look far to find some very convincing
factors. These include the regions combined population of three billion, rapidly
increasing affluence and, not least, the fact that Asia presents some of the
best environments and climates for outdoor leisure activities."
Hong Kong's range of sporting goods is diverse, from sports shoes and
bicycles to golf clubs and darts.
The territory has become the world's leading supplier of windsurfing sails,
taking a world market share of about 60 per cent. Swimwear manufacturers gain
from strong support by ancillary industries producing quality threads, zippers,
labels and other components at reasonable prices; and makers of fishing rods,
whether in tubular, bi-sectional or multi-sectional form, benefit from low-cost
production bases in China.
Largest customers of Hong Kong's sporting goods industry is the US (34 per
cent) followed by Germany (10 per cent), Japan (9 per cent), Britain (6 per
cent) and France (5 per cent).
To exhibit or visit Sports & Recreation '96, please contact your nearest
HKTDC office or Hong Kong direct to Maria Lenaghan [fax: (852)-2827 7831] for
enquiries from Europe or the Americas; or Dexter Chan [fax: (852)-2824 0249] for
enquiries from Asia, Australia and South Africa.
